I spent last week cuddling and playing with my grandson in Sardinia. I accompanied my future daughter in law to her home town in Muros, Sardinia. We spent the week hopping from one restaurant to the other for quotes and menus for the wedding reception. My son has been living with her for five years, and they finally decided to get married in September.
We stayed by her grandmothers. I shared a king size bed with my grandson and daughter in law. I felt like a mom again. My three-year-old grandson would turn around in his sleep and put his arms around my neck. One early morn he woke up in a panic. His mom was fast asleep, so I whispered to Kevin, “ What’s wrong dear?”
“ I have to go pee.”
I picked him up and rushed to the bathroom. Then I slipped him back into bed, and he plunged into a deep slumber.
Did you ever notice how young children’s mouths have a heart shape when they sleep? So sweet!
Kevin loves our time together. We paint and read books or play with cars.
His favorite books are, I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, Just A Minute by Yuyi Morales, The Gruffalo by Donaldson, Ready Set GOrilla by Melissa Stoller, Wake Up Little Bat, by Sara Momo Romero, and Baby Rattlesnake told by Te Ata, adapted by Lynn Moroney and illustrated by Mira Reisberg, just to name a few.
He loves the outdoors and often drags me into the woods. He wants to help me mow the lawn and prune the trees.
Kids nowadays are very bright. While I pruned the apple tree with my sheers, he did the same with his plastic saw. When I put the sheers on the ground to remove the branches he tried to grab them.
“No Kevin, you’ll cut yourself,” I said.
“But my saw doesn’t work, yours is better,” he said, with a grin on his face.
Kevin is now in the No and Why stage. You can ask him anything, and he’ll answer No even if you offer him ice cream. The Whys are tough. I don’t seem to have all the answers.
It’s going to be an eventful year for me.
My daughter is also getting married in July in Southern Italy.
My debut picture book will soon be released therefore I’m trying to get the promotional material ready on time for the book launch.
I’ll be attending the Bologna Book Fair in April where I will be meeting up with Vivian Kirfield.
Then the SCBWI conference in Switzerland in May. Phew!
I’m also working on educational material with fun activities for school visits in Italy for starters.
- early concepts of science
- how fossilization happens
- the evolution of a species (Rat, the protagonist in my book) hoping to spark children’s interest in learning more about adaptation in biology.
